July 25, 2007

Art of Being Tuareg at the Cantor Arts Center

The exhibition, "Art of being Tuareg: Sahara nomads in a
modern world," the first major exhibition in
the United States about the Tuareg people, is timely, as
changing conditions in the Sahara -- from global warming, uranium
mining and oil production -- have raised questions about the Turaeg's
future. The exhibition was organized in partnership with UCLA's Fowler
Museum, but the lead author on the catalogue and primary curator is
the Cantor's director, Tom Seligman, who has been communicating with
and studying the Tuareg for more than 30 years.

via LA Times, {CALENDAR, Part E; Pg. 6}:

Tuareg crafts cross paths with the world
Exhibition illustrates how the nomadic people maintain their culture
in modern life.

By Hugh Hart, Special to The Times

"A house is a coffin for the living."-- Tuareg proverb

Romanticized by European colonizers as fierce, camel-riding warriors
swathed in indigo veils, the semi-nomadic Tuareg people of North and
West Africa for centuries coaxed a livelihood from their harsh
environs in Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, Algeria and Libya.

Thomas K. Seligman, director of the Cantor Center for the Visual Arts
at Stanford University, says the Tuareg's historic distaste for
permanent lodging makes perfect sense. "In their worldview,
Tuareg live freely, with almost no stuff, in an environment that they
know and control."

Yet in recent decades, life for the Tuareg has changed drastically,
forcing an ever-growing engagement with the modern world. An
exhibition at the UCLA Fowler Museum, "Art of Being Tuareg:
Sahara Nomads in a Modern World," curated by Seligman,
encompasses recent photographs and videos that reflect Tuareg society
in the 21st century, complemented by 235 objects made from silver,
leather, wood and fabric representing traditional craftsmanship.

Fowler Museum Director Marla Berns, who has studied indigenous Ga'anda
and Yungur groups in nearby northeastern Nigeria, says the Tuareg
developed their distinctive fusion of lifestyle and art as a matter of
necessity: "It's the kind of aesthetic that grows up around
cultures that are on the move. You can't carry a lot of superfluous
material, because you're hauling it all around with you. There's a
tendency to put a lot of attention on the adornment of the self, as
well as the adornment of where people live and the objects they use."
The material on display comes courtesy of the Tuareg's artisan class,
known as inadan. Seligman and others believe the smiths, leather
workers and artists most likely descended from Jewish metallurgists
who migrated to North Africa after they were expelled from Spain by
Christians in the 14th and 15th centuries. Their role within the
Tuareg caste system is complicated.

"Historically," Seligman says, "the inadan were
scorned and feared because they have a lot of unusual capacities that
were seen as socially dangerous but absolutely essential. Nobody else
would think of touching the material they work with, much less trying
to do anything with it."

In 1971, Seligman became intrigued with the inadan when he met
silversmith Saidi Oumba and his wife, Andi Ouhoulou, in Agadez, an
ancient city in Niger that historically served as a caravan stop.
Oumba and his family practice the "trembling hand" technique
of silver smithing passed down from generation to generation.

Since then, Seligman has made more than a dozen visits to the region,
including two collecting trips partly financed by the Fowler. After a
four-month journey to Niger in 2001, Seligman conceived "Art of
Being Tuareg." His goal: "To bring an understanding of the
Tuareg people and their history as well as their dynamic engagement
with the so-called modern world."

The exhibition's contemporary component addresses the ways in which
this once-isolated culture has responded to the encroachments of
modern life. One video piece, for example, documents a desert wedding
attended by nobles on white camels while other guests arrive in
trucks. The wedding band does not rely on traditional goatskin drums.
Instead they dress in Western clothes and play rock music on electric
guitars, although they still belt out lyrics in the Tamasheq
language.

"What's happening with the Tuareg is happening all over the
world," Seligman says. "The region is experiencing
environmental degradation and huge stress from a variety of
geopolitical and global forces -- cash economy, roads coming in --
there's this kind of blending of other cultures."

"Art of Being Tuareg" demonstrates one connection, seen as
largely positive, made between ancient tradition and the global
economy with a display of Tuareg-produced bracelets, earrings,
necklaces and other luxury items marketed to trend-conscious
consumers.

The silver wares, including several crafted by Oumba that now belong
to the Fowler collection, reflect the way the Tuareg have modified
tradition to satisfy a larger public. Some objects are made of gold,
traditionally regarded as a taboo metal. Salt and pepper shakers cater
to Western tastes. And items that would have once been anonymously
produced are now signed by the artist to ensure authenticity in the
face of knockoff "Tuareg-inspired" merchandise.

Says Berns, "The smith class found a way to capitalize on
what they produce and haven't had any difficulty selling to an outside
market. Even though they may not have the social status of the nobles,
the inadan have a different kind of social status in our global
society because they have a cash economy. They're now making
money."

Art of Being Tuareg: Sahara Nomads in a Modern World: 11 a.m.-5 p.m.
Wednesday-Sunday and until 8 p.m. Thursday from May 30 to Sept. 2 at the Cantor
Arts Center on the Stanford University Campus. Admission is free. For
information, call (650) 723-4177 or visit www.museum.stanford.edu